Barcelona Reach Agreement for Long-Term Manchester United Defender Target

Manchester United’s hope of signing long term defender target Mats Hummels have suffered a blow after the Borussia Dortmund centre-back has reportedly reached an agreement with Barcelona. The German international was linked with a move to join the Premier League champions throughout the summer, but the deal did not materialise as Hummels continued his services with Jurgen Klopp’s side.

According to Talksport, the La Liga winners have agreed terms with last season’s Champions League finalist for the sale of Hummels, which could see Barcelona cough around £30million for the defender’s signature. The 24-year-old joined the Signal Iduna Park club from treble winners Bayern Munich in 2009 on a permanent deal and since then has been a key figure in Dortmund’s back four.

Hummels has already won two Bundesliga title in the last three seasons and was a key figure in Klopp’s squad, which lost to Bayern in the Champions League final at Wembley.

United have long been monitoring the German defender and are set to concede defeat in bringing Hummels to Old Trafford after Barcelona stepped up their interest in Dortmund star. The Spanish champions have long been looking to bring in a centre-back to the club.

Barcelona were linked to several high profile centre-backs in the Continent, which includes the likes of Paris Saint-Germain’s Thiago Silva, Liverpool defender Daniel Agger and Chelsea star David Luiz to replace ageing Carles Puyol at Camp Nou.

However, the Catalan club’s new manager Gerardo Martino failed to strengthen his side’s central defending position. The Argentine has set his eyes on Hummels to be a long-term replacement for Puyol, who is in his twilight of his career.

Hummels is aware of the growing interest for his services from top clubs across Europe. Earlier in the summer, the German international admitted not to have a career plan, but hinted a move to Barcelona could be a possibility in the future.

“I don’t have a career plan and I will never have one. Of course Barca are one of those clubs that is interesting for a football player,” Goal.com quoted Hummels as saying.

“But because a lot of players don’t deal openly with stuff like that, statements like ‘this club is interesting’ are directly mis-interpreted into wanting to go there. They are an interesting, fascinating club – nothing more.”